Lynx escapes from zoo and dies after anaesthesia

On the morning of 2 June 2021, a European lynx escaped from its enclosure at Nuremberg Zoo.

Acute cardiovascular failure following anaesthesia

It killed three adult blackbuck in the neighbouring enclosure. The lynx was sedated before the zoo opened and brought back to its stable. After waking from the anaesthesia, it died suddenly and unexpectedly. The pathological examination revealed indications of acute cardiovascular failure.

The animal rights organisation PETA is now calling on the zoo management to phase out the keeping of predators, particularly large and small cats, at Nuremberg Zoo by implementing a ban on breeding and imports.

Big cats in particular suffer enormously from captivity in a zoo enclosure. The two cheetah escapes of 2012 in Nuremberg, as well as numerous other escape attempts, show that these intelligent animals try to break free at every opportunity.

Peter Höffken, specialist adviser at PETA

Accidents and escapes involving big cats far from rare

PETA points to more than a dozen cases in the German-speaking world in recent years in which big cats seriously or fatally injured zoo staff or broke out of their enclosures: In July 2020, a tigress killed a zookeeper at Zurich Zoo. In 2013, a tiger killed a zookeeper at the Allwetterzoo in Münster. Since early 2012, big cats and a lynx have also escaped from their enclosures in at least seven cases.